Oh yes... I am currently in the middle of rebuilding the rally bike, nurturing sponsors and totally revamping the JMo Racing website... and I'll be starting a dedicated blog thread here on ADVrider too for sure!

Please check out the new-look www.jennydakar.com website and bookmark the page... there will also be a new Facebook page to follow soon too!

Oh yes... I am currently in the middle of rebuilding the rally bike, nurturing sponsors and totally revamping the JMo Racing website... and I'll be starting a dedicated blog thread here on ADVrider too for sure!

Please check out the new-look www.jennydakar.com website and bookmark the page... there will also be a new Facebook page to follow soon too!

Yes, John [at RRP] is being very supportive, and I'm just thrashing out details with a few others - certainly the 2013 swag is going to be very tasty (I'm hoping!), and all genuinely useful and unique!

Also, I have started a new Facebook page which will be a great way to update in a 'blog stylee', so please, if anyone here uses Facebook - please 'like' the new page, and tell all your friends to like it too!

Hi DD - thank you, I do appreciate your concern - and I'm sure you're not the only one thinking the same?

The bottom line is that if I don't do it this year, it is unlikely I will ever have sufficient 'spare' money to even contemplate it again... another year older, both me and the bike, and a million other things I should be spending my money on.

Regarding fitness - by 'bike fit' I mean the ability to get back on the bike every day, and ride it expending the minimal amount of effort, to conserve energy...

As for only reaching day 4 - that was nothing to do with fitness - I didn't retire through fatigue, I had an almighty crash (as I'm sure you'll recall!) - Oliver Pain crashed the day after me, and Craig Bounds was out on day 7 - the point being it can happen to anyone, with any amount of preparation? - you need the 'Dakar Luck' along with fitness!

Of course had I made it to rest day, I'm sure I would have started to feel the pain of riding such huge distances each day - but the one thing I did learn from this year's event, is not to get wrapped up in the 'buzz' and excitement, and not to pay attention to your standings each day (other than to know your start time for the following morning of course x)... Patsy summed it up with "Treat every day as a trail ride..." simple as that.

Having done so well on stage 1, I foolishly thought [as a first timer] I might make a dent on the standings...I admit I was guilty of thinking I could make up some ground early on, capitalize on my strengths and build in a safety net of a few minutes here and there - when there are only half a dozen riders in the women's category, these things can make the difference to placings... The bottom line is that typically a third fail to finish, it just happens that this year I was part of that third.

Obviously I am nowhere near the ability of the top riders, or even those mid-fielders who are vying for position, therefore it is a different kind of fitness I require - along with core strength, mental strength is fundamental, but I admit I need to improve my cardio to increase my chances...

If I go back, it will be to finish, as simple as that. I considered my self strong enough last year, and with a bit of training, consider myself strong enough to have another shot... I'm not in the habit of pissing money away you know!*

Jx

*erm, those that know me know that isn't strictly true, it's just I have a lot less to piss away now!

Hello Jenny

I thought you were not doing it this year as we had not heard anything from you. Glad to see you're doing 2013!
How is your training going you must be in the thick of it right now?

Looking foreword to the new thread Jenny! Insights into the bike build would be appreciated as well.

Don't worry GoThere - there will be a whole new thread on here very shortly... I was in the workshop this afternoon doing a bit of prep to the bike, and I hope to have it up and running again within the next couple of weeks...

In my usual nerdy way, I'll be going into plenty of detail regarding the bike and equipment I'll be using, and happy to answer any specific queries of course!

I thought you were not doing it this year as we had not heard anything from you. Glad to see you're doing 2013!
How is your training going you must be in the thick of it right now?

DD

Hey DD!

Yes, things have been a little quite these past few months, but things are falling into place now...

I'll be having the metalwork from my leg taken out next week, and fortunately the recovery time is only a couple of weeks this time, so I'll be able to be far more rigorous which physical training over the summer x

And just a reminder, there is a new Facebook page for Jennydakar.com, so if you use Facebook, please do visit and 'like' the new page, as I'll be able to update that remotely - and of course during the Dakar itself it is an ideal new-feed...

Mostly lack of funds and work commitments in a shitty economy. If Greece is solved and the money flows again then maybe, just maybe I will be able to do it, but right now I doubt it is going to pan out this way.

At least I will have the bike so I am trying to get round to the idea that I will do it in 2014.

So if it pans out this way then I will have to live through yours

__________________Dreaming of Dakar
-Everyone has a max speed, 90% of that max speed is much safer and easier, and if that 90% speed isn't fast enough at Dakar, you enter the snowball. - neduro

Mostly lack of funds and work commitments in a shitty economy. If Greece is solved and the money flows again then maybe, just maybe I will be able to do it, but right now I doubt it is going to pan out this way.

At least I will have the bike so I am trying to get round to the idea that I will do it in 2014.

So if it pans out this way then I will have to live through yours

Hi Neil - sorry to hear it, but goodness knows things are financially tight at this end too...

I'll do my best to take you all along on an entertaining journey again, and hell, at the very least hope to see you in Lima for a beer or two before the start?!

Mostly lack of funds and work commitments in a shitty economy. If Greece is solved and the money flows again then maybe, just maybe I will be able to do it, but right now I doubt it is going to pan out this way.

At least I will have the bike so I am trying to get round to the idea that I will do it in 2014.

So if it pans out this way then I will have to live through yours

Shit, sorry to hear that Neil... Greece just elected a market-friendly government if that's any consolation.
Now to see what the Spanish are going to do...